Paris, Texas: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack [SOUNDTRACK]

Ry Cooder

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Original Release Date: November 9, 1984
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B000002L7L
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,448 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #22 in	Music > Blues > Slide Guitar
  #78 in	Music > Rock > Roots Rock

Track Listings

1. Paris, Texas

2. Brothers

3. Nothing Out There

4. Canción Mixteca - Ry Cooder, Jim Dickinson, Nastassja Kinski, David Lindley, Harry Dean Stanton

5. No Safety Zone

6. Houston in Two Seconds

7. She's Leaving the Bank

8. On the Couch

9. I Knew These People - Ry Cooder, Jim Dickinson, Nastassja Kinski, David Lindley, Harry Dean Stanton

10. Dark Was the Night

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Ry Cooder has done some of the best soundtracks in the last 20 years or so (I wouldn't live without The Long Riders or the two-disc Music By Ry Cooder compilation, either)--most of them superior to the movies. (Sorry about that, Walter Hill--but it's true.) His lonesome, steel-guitar music for Wim Wenders' Paris, Texas is one of those cases where the movie and its music are equally great. I can't imagine one without the other. Every time I hear Cooder's opening theme, I see those wide western spaces and Travis (Harry Dean Stanton) wandering through them; and every time I see a still from the movie, I can hear Cooder's music playing in my head. --Jim Emerson

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Atmospheric masterpiece, May 13, 2000

By	Audun Myskja (N-1400 Ski, Ski Norway) - See all my reviews

One of the immortal scenes: Harry Dean Stanton in the desert, scrambling out of nowhere, a tortured Everyman in search of solace. And then Ry Cooder`s slide guitar notes, modeled on Blind Willie Johnson`s " Dark was the night" - when have so few notes said so much? The music and the film images fit like hand and glove. I do not know whether "Paris, Texas" is a great movie, but I do know that it, for me and a host of others, is one of the most unforgettable movies ever, with images and feelings that refuse to let go, creeping under the skin and staying there. The music underlines this feeling, with not a surplus note, every little vibrato inuitively perfectly suited to the atmosphere conveyed in the movie - love and loss, union and aloneness, and, above all, compassion . If the music doesn`t reach these feelings, the experience may be that of the 1-star reviewer quoted. But to me, this music is one of the most durable selections I have in my 1000-piece collection, one of the few that always brings rewards and new nuances when listened to.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Large Canvas, Small Painting, June 7, 2008

By	El Lagarto (Ambler, PA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Paris, Texas - directed by Wim Wenders and starring Harry Dean Stanton, Nastassja Kinski, and Dean Stockwell - is a truly astounding movie. More to the point, the Ry Cooder soundtrack is so perfectly suited to the overall gestalt of the film that it becomes a character unto itself. Cooder's haunting, solo slide guitar mirrors the immense, barren Texas landscape in a way that is spellbinding, exquisite, and unforgettable.

That said, this CD is "more hat than man" - as they sometimes say in Texas. Clocking in at an anemic 34:11, it's less than generous. The issue is compounded by the inclusion of 8:34 of dialogue - "I Knew These People." If you've seen the film, you know that this scene is the payday, the moment you've been anticipating for hours. It is one of the most riveting scenes in all film; the interplay between Stanton and Kinski is pure poetry. However, this is only true because everything up to that point has prepared you for it. Without context it is only a well-crafted speech, and including it here feels like superfluous padding.

I recently also purchased the 2-CD set, "Music By - Ry Cooder," which has bits and pieces from the 20 or so movies Cooder has scored in two decades of film work. This is a far beefier and more diverse effort, with many different styles represented. It too is primarily instrumental, very few vocal tracks - although some of the vocal tracks are extraordinary - one doesn't forget the Throat Singers of Tuva quickly! If you had to choose between the two, I'd recommend "Music" - it really has a lot to offer. If you have your heart set on the Paris, Texas soundtrack - caveat emptor - there's less here than meets the eye.

What I found was that by dropping the "I Knew These People" speech, and cherry-picking through the 2-CD "Music By - Ry Cooder" effort I had enough material for an impeccable 80-minute stroll through an "instrumental-only" view of Ry Cooder's genius, a place that is every bit as mesmerizing - and far more hospitable - than the badlands of Texas poor Travis, Harry Dean Stanton, had to endure.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Driving Music, January 9, 2001

By	e. zapata - See all my reviews

I remember when I first saw this movie my pop-tuned ears heard some of the strangest musical notes that ever caught my ear. Ry Cooder paints a somber mood with his slide guitar, giving the movie another dimension for us to view the tormented soul. Excellent guitar work on this CD. The music has a quiet simplicity to it but is laden with ghostly emotions. He plays that one riff that just echos throughout the CD. The melancholy songs are interrupted by a very different, but beautiful sound of Cancion Mixteca, a traditional Mexican piece about longing for home. Morphing the country blues sounds of Blind Willie Johnson and traditional Mexican guitar he creates a interesting texture of music. The best tracks are Dark was the Night and Cancion Mixteca. Johnson's Dark was the Night ( I went out to buy that CD also) was the muse for creating Paris, Texas.

So the down side of this soundtrack is that it is only 34 minutes and 7 seconds and 26% of that time is filled with I Know These People (track 9) a monologue that goes on for to long...and he ran again... It's a good for the first few listens but if one listens to this CD a lot it becomes quite tiresome. It becomes more palatable when the guitar kicks in halfway through the track. Ry Cooder probable recorded the best soundtrack for a movie that I ever seen.